“It will bring only benefits. We needed this economic union,” he says

MINSK, July 01. /ITAR-TASS/. The Eurasian Economic Union is beneficial for Belarus, since it is to become a powerful centre of economic development, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday.

“I am sure that this union will be a powerful centre of economic development,” he said at an event on the occasion of Belarus’ Independence Day and the 70th anniversary of liberation from the Nazi. “The treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union has done no harm to Belarus and will do no harm in future. It will bring only benefits. We needed this economic union.”

However he admitted that membership in this union could not solve all the problems. “It is a good guarantee, if we work well to sell our products,” he stressed. Belarus’ economy, in his words, is export oriented, with about 75% of products sold outside the country. “To survive and ensure a normal life, we must be half a step ahead of our rivals,” he said.

Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan agreed to conduct a coordinated policy in key sectors of the economy: energy, industry, agriculture, transport, Lukashenko noted. “Thus, we are forming the biggest in the entire post-Soviet space economic union of countries with an overall population of 170 million,” he said.